I have a freestanding 16' x 18' shed. It is insulated. It is in the sun all day. I desperately need to cool it down in there. I have an exhaust set up with make up air that is supplied through vents that run up through the floor and exit at the back of my bench in front of the torch. All of this is inside a plexiglass "tent" to try to minimize loss of room air. I bought a portable AC unit that is doing absolutely nothing. I would appreciate hearing from people who are in freestanding sheds to learn about what you are doing for AC. What do you use? What size it? Thanks so much for any help.

I do have a small unit, and it doesn't keep it cool but it keeps me from floating away on a sea of perspiration. I do find that a small fan behind me, aimed at my feet and past them to where the concentrator sits under my bench, helps a bit too. My shed is smaller than yours, outside dimensions are 12x14 I think.

If you can feel the heat with your hand by holding it up toward the roof then I suggest installing a false roof inside or a second layer of roof over the top outside with ridge venting and soffit inlets.

I painted the cement roof of a place I rented in Guam a very bright white and it really made a difference in the heat of the ceiling.

I also suggest a fan under the bench pointed at your knees.

Creating an insulated ice box under your bench with its only opening right where your knees fit is another thought rather than trying to cool down the entire 16 by 18 building.

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So, What Do We Do Now? We continue to try to make a difference when and where we can. Because that's what we do.

Hubby installed R-13 insulation in walls and ceiling. The only area not insulated is the doors and that is a large area because they are huge double doors but they face east so not much heat on that side.

Fire resistant wall board on walls

Light weight 3/8 wallboard on ceilings because the other was just too heavy for us to install!!

Hubby added 3/4 plywood to the cheap floor it came with

Tiled with heavy ceramic tile for flooring

We installed a rather small A/C unit up high ( see pics) works great.

We have a old squirrel cage blower purchased from the squirrel cage blower grave yard at a local Heating and cooling place ( $40.00) It is on the outside of the shed and ducted over to the work table. Hubby wired it with three speeds. I usually use it on high.

We installed a 10" hydroponics replacement air fan to the middle of the table bringing in fresh air.

It gets 120 here frequently and it stays very cool with the A/C set at 75.

These fans remind me of the $4 investment one of my fellow pilgrims made when I went to Rome for World Youth Day (many years ago). It was unseasonably hot there - basically same temps as Phoenix, Arizona, where I live!! We had no AC most of the time and people from the northern countries were passing out left and right! I wished that I had known about that little fan before I left for Italy!!!

What is it about heat that I always seem to notice it around my head and neck the most? This seems to be something I've noticed later in life.

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Minor with two 5 lpm oxycons. Sometimes I use both of them...

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